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Blue Jays and Phillies: How they’ve done since 1993 World Series battle

A look at where the players, managers and executives have gone.

Host Joe Carter, second from right, is joined by former Phillies closer Mitch Williams, right, as they warm up the golfers with yoga during the 2012 Joe Carter Golf Classic at at Eagles Nest Golf Club. (David Cooper / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Ever since they met in the 1993 World Series, the Blue Jays and Phillies have remained linked, through personnel moves involving manager and GMs to trades involving one of the greatest pitchers ever to set foot on a pitching rubber.

This season, the 20th anniversary of that tremendous Series, sees the two clubs on even roughly ground, a pair of teams fighting for .500 records and trying to establish themselves as playoff contenders. In all the years since the series, though, the Phillies remained the clear leader in terms of winning and post-season achievement.

Here’s a look at what’s happened to both franchises since those heady days in 1993, when the Jays had the top three hitters in the American League and the Phillies swaggered about with off-the-wall character and talent, high-profile girlfriends and mullet hairdos.

THE MANAGERS

Cito Gaston

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Gaston is currently back in Toronto, where he maintains a year-round home. There is an air of class, experience and success about the man that never diminishes.

Gaston’s Jays never fully recovered their World Series form after the 1994 lockout. Gaston was fired by then-GM Gord Ash in 1997, but resurfaced quickly as a leading candidate for a number of managerial and hitting coach openings, including those in Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Chicago (White Sox). It was often repeated that Gaston did not show interest in keeping the Jays job in 1997 because he’d said he would not be around for post-season evaluations (he was fired with a week remaining in the season). He also told the Dodgers that he wouldn’t report for the interview process — that he should either be hired or passed over. While he was questioned for his decisions here, Gaston explained that no interview was necessary — you knew what you were getting with him, he felt, so why waste time with interviewing. He would ultimately be rehired by the Jays as a hitting coach in 1999, as a special assistant to then team president Paul Godfrey in 2002, and then as John Gibbons’ replacement as manager in 2008. He’d sign a two-year extension, then announce his retirement after the 2010 season. He was honoured at the Rogers Centre with a special on-field presentation that season, one of the most memorable tributes in club history. Gaston remains a fixture at the Rogers Centre and with the organization — a Blue Jay for life.

Jim Fregosi

Fregosi is currently the top advance scout for the Atlanta Braves, and the Braves are arguably the team to beat in the National League. Fregosi has had an interesting journey since 1993; his career path took him to Toronto in 1999, where he became manager for the next two seasons. Fregosi was released even though his teams finished above .500 in both his seasons in Toronto. Fregosi, like Gaston, commanded respect simply by showing up on the field. He was universally recognized as a brilliant baseball man. He pops up at the Rogers Centre periodically in his current role.

They’ve met many times since Carter’s famous “touch ’em all, Joe” home run off Williams to win the ’93 Series. Williams was most recently in Toronto for the 2012 Joe Carter Golf Classic. The Carter homer not only has its place in baseball history, but in music as well: Toronto-born rapper Choclair referenced the shot in his 1999 song “Let’s Ride.” There was obviously a degree of difficulty in meeting each other after ’93 — it didn’t happen for a few years. But neither player ever showed anything but friendship towards the other. Williams retired from baseball in 1997 and operated a bowling alley he had opened in the Philly suburbs. As part of the 1996 All-Star Game in Philadelphia, Williams and Carter were talked into a bowling match. Williams said that since he played all the time he should handle Carter easily, but Carter had been secretly practising, and went on to win the match. Williams returned to the field, pitching and coaching for the Atlantic City Surf between 2001 and 2003. He wound up in radio, but has since appeared on a DIY renovation show on TV.

PAT GILLICK

Gillick, Paul Beeston and Gaston, the principal architects of the ’93 Series win, went in different directions after conquering the baseball world in Toronto. Gillick, after leaving Toronto, wound up with a Phillies franchise waiting for the right person to take it to another level. Gillick was that person. After taking over from Ed Wade in 2005, Gillick engineered moves that led to three straight pennants and the 2008 World Series championship. He retired in 2009 and was elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, cementing one of the most successful GM careers ever. He has been a GM for four major league teams, and currently serves as a senior adviser with the Phillies.

ROY HALLADAY

Halladay’s credentials are impeccable, his career undeniably headed towards the Hall of Fame. It was one of the great inequities in Jays history that the franchise was never able to make the playoffs during his 12 years in Toronto. Halladay ultimately left Toronto in 2009 for the Phillies in search of that elusive post-season berth, and a World Series title. It appeared Halladay would get his wish, but the Phillies, while a great franchise and highly successful, have yet to win a ring with Doc in the fold. He pitched a perfect game in May 2010 and became just the second pitcher ever to pitch a no-hitter in the post-season when he blanked the Reds in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS. He won his second Cy Young Award that year, but in 2012 was no longer the pitcher baseball was accustomed to seeing. He had shoulder surgery in May 2013, and has begun throwing again.

SUCCESSES, FAILURES SINCE ’93

Blue Jays

Have not made the post-season since; best record since then is still the 1998 team, led by a manager, Tim Johnson, who was fired after that season amid controversy about his past. There were great visions back in ’94 of an all-Canadian World Series: Toronto was favoured to repeat as AL champs, and the Montreal Expos were cruising, with a first-place club and a star-studded roster. But the season was wiped out by a strike. Had three consecutive Cy Young Award winners (Hentgen in 1996, Roger Clemens in ’97, ’98), but no major award winner thereafter until Jose Bautista became baseball’s home run king in 2010. A major roster retooling for the 2013 season had the club estimating a return to 3 million fans, a mark not seen in Toronto since 1993.

Phillies

With Gillick (and later, Ruben Amaro Jr.) as GM, the Phillies won three consecutive NL titles and the World Series in 2008. They were still named Baseball America’s organization of the year for 2009, but were beaten by the Yankees in the World Series. Philadelphia also won five consecutive NL East Division pennants, ending in 2011. The team was below .500 this week, and hoping Halladay could rehab in time to pitch again this season.

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